Thanks again for reading/reviewing! I hope you're enjoying it.

/

Catherine

Ligature marks on thin wrists, a single stab wound to her bare chest. I snapped a few photos, white-blonde hair reflecting in the flash, a haunted look in her milky blue eyes. There was a pool of blood beneath her, and a single yellow flower resting between her pale lips.

It was the fourth case we had seen like this in the past few weeks and I couldn't quite decipher my feelings- something between fury and heartache. Possibly both. Probably both.

I gently touched her fingers, looking under her nails for any signs of a fight. The manicured tips were clean, no sign of defense.

"Not again"

I looked up at the brunette whose approach I hadn't heard, kit in hand, brown eyes looking mournfully over the body. I sighed, sitting back on my heels with a gentle nod.

"Same MO. Single stab wound to the chest, blonde hair, blue eyes. PD identified her as Madison Adler, 16. Missing since Saturday"

Her eyes focused on me, brows lightly furrowed

"You okay? I can take over the body if you'd rather take the perimeter"

She had been the one to process the bodies at the past three scenes, not pausing to ask me which I preferred. I knew she saw Lindsay in their lifeless forms too, and while I appreciated the gesture more than she could possibly know, my determination to keep my personal feelings separate from my work was strong.

I offered her a grateful smile

"You start on the perimeter, I'm almost finished here"

She gave me a hesitant nod, eyes lingering on me for a moment before turning towards the moonlit desert.

I returned my focus to the body, reaching down to pull the flower carefully out of her mouth. It had been identified in the first investigation as Arnica Mollis- a flower native to this area. I recognized it as the roadside wildflower that Eddie had once picked a clumsy bouquet of- an attempted apology for a road trip dispute that left me pulled over on the edge of the interstate crying tears of frustration with a screaming baby, listening to his drunken pleadings through the passenger side window.

I dropped the flower into a small container, sealing it up and tossing it into an evidence bag. Flowers were over rated. Love, at least in any romantic form that I experienced it, was over rated. By the time I had finished processing the body I had definitively sworn off of flowers, love, men and any more unnecessary double shifts- my head pounding, eyes blurry from too many hours of focusing on intricate details.

I left her with David, grateful that he was the coroner on call tonight. He had been there for the other three girls as well, and I could tell that he was feeling the gravity of these murders just as much as I was.

I pulled my flashlight out as I turned towards the vast desert, heading off in search of the brunette. I saw the light from her flashlight flickering in the far off distance, near the base of a range of low hills. I silently cursed my choice of footwear, hesitating just long enough to remember the chill of the late autumn air. I felt a shiver run through me, rubbing my arms with a general sense of displeasement as I started in the direction of the light, grabbing my radio to inform Officer Jackson of our little venture.

By the time I reached her I was slightly winded, heels digging awkwardly into the ground beneath me.

"Find something?" I asked, my breath like smoke in the dim light. She sighed, pushing back onto her feet

"No"

I looked at her in disbelief, throwing my hands up in a silent question

"I followed a set of tire marks out here, I thought maybe he had left a path, but it's just kids on ATV's. They meet up with a bunch more up here" she explained, pointing to a mess of tire treads beside her.

"I got some photos just incase, but I'm sure the path is just coincidental, our guy is not that sloppy"

I sighed, glancing back at our tiny vehicles in the distance. I didn't have the energy to be upset

"There is an upside to being curious though" she told me, switching off her flashlight. I frowned as she walked over, gently taking hold of mine and doing the same

"We'll be taken out by a pack of rabid coyotes and won't have to make the trip back?" I asked bitterly, my eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

The moon was nothing more than a sliver, leaving the desert blanketed in heavy darkness, aside from the distant flashing of police lights

"Look up"

I glanced at the sky above us, my breath catching in my throat at the magnitude of the stars. As often as we were out here, this was never something I had enough time to notice or appreciate.

I surveyed the ground for a moment before turning to sit on an even patch of grass. Sara looked down at me quizzically. I shrugged

"I need a minute before our trek back"

I could just barely make out her pursed lip smile, her tall form following suit and dropping down next to me. I leaned back against my hands, focusing up at the sky.

For a moment, there were no dead girls with haunted eyes and heartbroken families, no daughters to worry about. Just Sara, myself, and a million stars.

"Look to your right, you see those two bright stars?"

I followed the line of her outstretched finger, nodding softly

"If you connect them over to those bright stars there, and down there, it forms what looks a bit like a tea pot. That's Sagittarius"

It took me a moment to draw the invisible lines between stars, but then it was there, clear as day. I glanced over at her, my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. She was focused on the sky, dark hair softly illuminated, long legs bent in front of her. I drank in the sight of her so relaxed. It felt like a rare and precious gift- the stars, the silence, a moment where I could enjoy the familiar comfort of the younger woman's presence without tension or reason for argument.

It wasn't unusual for us to be getting along, but our peace was typically, quite dramatically broken by some sort of argument- my temper and her defensiveness a lethal combination. I had to hand it to Grissom though, somehow forcing us together had, so far, been a remedy to the building tensions between us. That meant one less weight on my already overloaded shoulders.

"Beautiful" I mused, focusing back on the sky. We sat in silence for a few drawn out minutes before I felt the cold begin creeping its way beneath my thin jacket, my jaw tensing at the sensation. I pushed off the ground, brushing the remnants of sand off my dark pants

"Well I figure we've got a few good minutes before hypothermia sets in" I grumbled, bliss short lived, the distant lights a reminder of our lengthy walk back. It was only a moment before I felt the weight of a jacket thrown over my shoulders. I turned to look at Sara, nothing more than a thin shirt covering her form. I opened my mouth to protest but she cut me off, starting to lead the way back to the scene

"No more complaints for the entire walk back"

I hesitated for a moment, feeling a bit like a scolded child, but she glanced back, shooting me a playful grin and the feeling dissipated. I wrapped myself in the warm jacket, a size too big but all the cozier for it. It smelled lightly of Patchouli and tobacco- familiar, yet scents I hadn't distinguished before. I hadn't realized she was smoking again, though after the heavy few months we've all had, it didn't really surprise me. Hell, I probably would be too if it weren't for Lindsay. Ironically though, she might be the one to drive me back to it. I pushed all thoughts out of my mind, every few awkward steps taking a second to look up at the starlit sky.

/

"Please tell me you guys have something"

Ecklie greeted us as we entered the break room. Sara headed straight for the coffee, my eyes meeting his as I took a seat in the chair opposite him

"We have a few fibers that I found in the victims hair, the flower from her mouth- though that hasn't helped us in the previous cases-, and a few shoe prints leading away from the scene, but there is nothing actually connecting them to the body dump"

He sighed, leaning back in his chair

"People are getting anxious, we need to give them something- some sort of illusion that we are getting somewhere with this. Even better, it would be helpful if you guys could actually find something useable out there"

I felt my blood pressure rise, narrowing my eyes at him. It was going on my 16th hour and I was in no mood. I opened my mouth to say my piece when he held up a hand tiredly

"I know, you guys are doing everything you can, I'm not blaming you. The undersheriff is on my case to get some information, and you know that he doesn't have any patience for the process. Do we have any suspects at all?"

Sara slid a cup of coffee in front of me, dropping into the neighboring chair

"We have one guy- an older brother of one of the victims friends. Sofia and I questioned him briefly at his house the other day. I got the vibe that he was just generally strange more than suspicious, but we could bring him in, press him a bit more" she offered, taking a sip from the large mug in her hands.

I took a sip of my own, grateful for the comfort of an imminent caffeine fix. It was the perfect balance of cream and sugar and I glanced over at Sara, surprised by her knowledge of this small detail. I guess that was an upside to spending the majority of your days with someone.

"That's better than nothing, get Curtis to bring him in first thing tomorrow. You guys should get some rest, you look like you could use it" he said, standing to go

Sara shot him a smile as he exited the room before averting her eyes over to me, frowning lightly

"I take a bit of offence to that"

I scoffed, taking in the dark bags under her chocolate eyes, the frown lines becoming creases in her otherwise smooth forehead, the oversized coffee in her pale hands

"You should, you look as fresh as a daisy" I commented dryly.

She shot a light-hearted glare at me, taking another long drink of coffee.

"Seriously, you should get some sleep. We can look at this with fresh eyes tomorrow"

I took a moment to finish off the remnants of the warm liquid, standing up and rinsing my mug out in the sink, suddenly reminded of the grating headache that had been pulsing through my head for the past few hours.

"Oh, here. Thanks"

I slid her warm jacket off my shoulders, laying it across my vacant chair

She smiled lightly, brown eyes meeting mine

"No worries. I couldn't have you falling into a hypothermic state on our journey across the desert" she said simply, throwing my earlier dramatics back at me, pursing her lips together into a smile.

"Goodnight Sara" I emphasized each word, biting back a smile of my own on my way out the door.